Traditionally, personal computers include combinations of operating systems, applications, and user settings, which are each managed individually by owners or administrators on an ongoing basis. However, many organizations are now using desktop virtualization to provide a more flexible option to address the varying needs of their users. In desktop virtualization, a user's computing environment (e.g., operating system, applications, and/or user settings) may be separated from the user's physical computing device (e.g., smartphone, laptop, desktop computer). Using client-server technology, a “virtualized desktop” may be stored in and administered by a remote server, rather than in the local storage of the client computing device.
There are several different types of desktop virtualization systems. As an example, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) refers to the process of running a user desktop inside a virtual machine that resides on a server. VDI and other server-based desktop virtualization systems may provide personalized desktops for each user, while allowing for centralized management and security. Servers in such systems may include storage for virtual desktop images and system configuration information, as well as software components to provide the virtual desktops and allow users to interconnect to them. For example, a VDI server may include one or more hypervisors (virtual machine managers) to create and maintain multiple virtual machines, software to manage the hypervisor(s), a connection broker, and software to provision and manage the virtual desktops.
Desktop virtualization systems may be implemented using a single virtualization server or a combination of servers interconnected as a server grid. Multi-server desktop virtualization systems often include additional computing devices and/or shared storage to provide a common system management portal and to maintain global state information. Such systems often use the external shared storage, along with database and enterprise server software within the virtualization servers, to manage the system.
In virtualized desktop systems, significant amounts of data, such as data used to generate images of a virtual desktop at a client computing device, are transmitted from a remote server administering the virtual desktop to the client computing device displaying the virtual desktop. In existing systems, updates for the virtual desktop are periodically transmitted for an entire virtual desktop display area, tying up large amounts of network resources.